External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday that the India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is likely to be completed by the end of 2025. The Foreign Minister said this during a conversation with the Financial Times Brussels Bureau Chief Henry Foy at the German Marshall Fund (GMF) Forum. According to PTI news, Jaishankar said that India gives high priority to its relations with the European Union, whose main point is free trade agreement negotiation that is making very good progress. Jaishankar is holding several extensive discussions in Brussels this week, including the European Commission Chairman Ursula von Der Leyen and the first Indo-European Union Strategic Dialogue with the European Union’s high representative Kaza Kailas for foreign affairs and security policy.
Talking on FTA is going on
According to the news, Jaishankar said that I will give it a very high priority (India-EU relations), right now you are seeing us in a very important moment. He said that we had a college of (European Union) Commissioners, who came to India collectively after assuming office. We know that this is a very unusual and very positive step, and we are really thinking of deepening our relationship. He said that therefore, the main point is FTA, which has been in conversation for some time, but whatever I have heard, I think we are making very good progress.
A lot has been done
In the backdrop of his conversation with the European Union’s Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maros Shefkovic on Wednesday, Jaishankar was asked about the possibility of completing the FTA by the end of this year. He said that a lot has been done, and whatever I have heard in this journey, I believe that it is in vision, that it is possible to do so by the end of the year. Jaishankar said that we are ready to make decisions based on the circumstances and challenges, thinking for ourselves and essentially what are able to benefit from our abilities and the world. And this is because we have never been a coalition partner. Therefore, our foreign policy structure, according to the nature of our strategic options, we have that mindset and approach.
Will behave on conditions that are best for both of us
Comparing it with the history and experiences of Europe, the minister said that India is accustomed to deal with any trans-political deviation in changing geopolitical realities and emerging approaches. He said that we are objective about it. We value our relations with America, as we do with the European Union, we will behave with each on conditions that are best for both of us. On the issue of Russia-Ukraine conflict, Jaishankar highlighted India’s stand in favor of the solution through differences of differences.
What said in the case of China
In the case of China, Jaishankar considered incredibly complex matrix with several different dimensions. Asked if the European Union remains innocent in the case of China, he said that I will point to a certain development in the situation and stance of Europe, but I would also like to say that this is a very different picture. The whole Europe is clearly not moving forward on the same speed and the same wavelength. Therefore, there are some who have different views, some that are more rigid. I will make this difference clear.
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